Greenwood County did not exist during the Civil War. Present day Greenwood County was created 2 March 1897 from [[Abbeville County, South Carolina|Abbeville]] and [[Edgefield County, South Carolina|Edgefield]] Counties. During the Civil War, men from the area of Greenwood County mostly would have served in various regiments recruited in Abbeville and Edgefield counties. Counties were called districts during the Civil War. <br>

*Eaton, Lafayette Claud. Butler Guards: Company B, 2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment, Confederate States army (Vallejo, Calif.&nbsp;: L.C. Eaton, 1996?), 151 pages. Civil War pages. Includes index. Includes the final roll call of the original Butler Guards present at the surrender at Greensboro.The Butler Guards were originally a South Carolina state militia that became the core of Company B of the 2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment. They later became a part of the United Confederate Veterans. Book found at {{FHL|758172|item|disp=FHL Book 975.727 M2e}}

*Eaton, Lafayette Claud. Butler Guards: Company B, 2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment, Confederate States army (Vallejo, Calif.&nbsp;: L.C. Eaton, 1996?), 151 pages. Civil War pages. Includes index. Includes the final roll call of the original Butler Guards present at the surrender at Greensboro.The Butler Guards were originally a South Carolina state militia that became the core of Company B of the 2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment. They later became a part of the United Confederate Veterans. Book found at {{FHL|758172|item|disp=FHL Book 975.727 M2e}}

1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Greenwood County are available online. For tips on accessing census records online, see South Carolina Census. If you're having trouble finding your ancestors in online indexes, try checking printed indexes. Created by local experts familiar with the area's families, these indexes are often transcribed more accurately than online nationwide indexes.

Land and Property

Plats For State Land Grants 1784-1868

This series consists of recorded copies of plats for state land grants for the Charleston and the Columbia Series with their certificates of admeasurement or certification. All personal names and geographic features on these plats are included in the repository's On-line Index to Plats for State Land Grants

The South Carolina Constitution of 1790 required the surveyor general to maintain offices in both the new capital at Columbia and in Charleston. The surveyor general began to use separate volumes for recording plats in his Columbia office in 1796. Before that, all plats were recorded in the set of volumes begun in Charleston in 1784. After 1796, most plats for land grants in the Upper Division of the state were recorded and filed in Columbia. The surveyor general chose to make the Columbia volumes a continuation of the state plat volumes begun in Charleston and gave the initial Columbia volume the number thirty-six to correspond with the number of the volume that had then been reached in the Charleston series. As a result, there are volumes numbered thirty-six through forty-three from each office, but the records in them are not duplicative.

Civil War, 1861-1865

Greenwood County did not exist during the Civil War. Present day Greenwood County was created 2 March 1897 from Abbeville and Edgefield Counties. During the Civil War, men from the area of Greenwood County mostly would have served in various regiments recruited in Abbeville and Edgefield counties. Counties were called districts during the Civil War.

Eaton, Lafayette Claud. Butler Guards: Company B, 2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment, Confederate States army (Vallejo, Calif. : L.C. Eaton, 1996?), 151 pages. Civil War pages. Includes index. Includes the final roll call of the original Butler Guards present at the surrender at Greensboro.The Butler Guards were originally a South Carolina state militia that became the core of Company B of the 2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment. They later became a part of the United Confederate Veterans. Book found at FHL Book 975.727 M2e

Newspapers

The Library of Congress has identified the following historic newspapers for Greenwood County, South Carolina on their Chronicling America website. For publication details, including dates of publication, frequency, preceding and succeeding titles, and to find out which libraries have holdings, click on the newspaper title.

Periodicals

Tap into the minds of local experts. Editors of genealogical periodicals publish unique sources that researchers new to their area may not encounter. Periodicals at various levels (county, region, and state) may carry articles useful to research in this area. For this county, see:

Genealogical Roots and Branches

Probate

Probate is the “court procedure by which a will is proved to be valid or invalid” and encompasses “all matters and proceedings pertaining to the administration of estates, guardianships, etc.”[4] Various types of records are created throughout the probate process. These may include, wills, bonds, petitions, accounts, inventories, administrations, orders, decrees, and distributions. For further information see probate records in South Carolina.

South Carolina Genealogical Records: Volume 1, Abbeville County and parts of Greewood and McCormick Counties by Elizabeth Wood Thomas. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: Willo Publishing Co., C1964. FHL Book 975.73 P2t Includes will book l (1787-1809), will book II (1815-1839) and index to equity records, 1791-1906.

Taxation

Vital Records

Birth, marriage, and death records were not recorded by South Carolina until the 1900s, thus leaving a lack of vital records. Substitute records, when available, are used to obtain this information. These substitute records including newspapers, court records have been added to this section, when applicable.

Birth

State-wide birth registration began in 1915. For a copy of a birth from 1915 or later, contact the South Carolina Department of Health. The Greenwood County Health Department also has copies but they provide only an abbreviated form with limited information. For more information, see the South Carolina Vital Records page.

Marriage

In South Carolina, marriage licenses were not required by local governments until 1 July 1911. However, in the 1700s, the Church of England parish churches were required to record all marriages - even if the couple were not members of the denomination. Not all churches recorded these marriages and some have not survived. See South Carolina Vital Records for more information.

South Carolina Digital Library (SCDL) is a collaborative effort that includes South Carolina’s schools, libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. Collaborating groups are encouraged to create, maintain, and promote digital collections that represent South Carolina's historical and cultural resources. A number of Greenwood County items are in the collection. To see images from Greenwood County, Click Here.